Thieves in the Night
Disclaimer: ^_^;; forgot to say this last time... Do you really think I own digimon ayways??? -.-;;; ...
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Chapter 2
As soon as she felt the touch she remembered one of the first lessons her grandfather had taught her.
*****************************flashback*************************
A small young girl sat in an open field eyes closed and short shoulder length auburn hair flickering around in the breeze. Facing her sat an old man, legs crossed in the same fashion as his granddaughter long white hair in a braid down his back.
Two swords sat near the two, one beside the girl, small but well made. But compared to the other blade it was in ruins.
The blade by her grandfather was a katana shinning in perfection, steel glittering brightly in the sun. The steel hilt had designs running up into the length of the sword. It was as perfectly balanced as it was made. It was light weight but nearly impossible to break.
But this did not matter as the two sat there in silence, absorbing the feel of the air around them. After sitting there in peace for who know how long, time did not matter in this occasion, the old man broke the silence.
Sora," he said causing the small girl, no older than seven, to look up.
"Yes grandfather," she answered, opening her crimson eyes, her attention completely on the adult so beyond her young years.
The old man opened his eyes, identical to his young granddaughters, unless you looked beyond the surface. Because though the same in colour Sora's were filled with innocence and sparkling with happiness. Her grandfathers went deep, filled with age-old wisdom, more than anyone should know and more than anyone could remember if he explained.
He gazed at this young child, a vision of perfection in his old eyes, and felt pride. She was special. More than she would ever know or realize in the slightest. She was not destined for her family's life, as her brother and sister and parents were. She was to become something much greater.
He almost laughed as he realized that no one but an old man would realize that for years to come. But he quickly sobered as he realized what responsibilities would be put onto his small grandchild, completely unaware of her extraordinary fate. It would be his responsibility to prepare her to give her a will to survive the hard life she would go through.
"Grandfather...?" Sora questioned again, looking at her grandparent curiously as he shook his head slightly, coming back into reality.
"Sora, my child, there is something I must tell you." He informed her, placing a hand upon each of her small shoulders, and gazing into her eyes. "Sora you are special. You are destined to a fate that neither of us could possibly dream of. And unlike your mother, father, and siblings you will not live you life out on this farm, insolated from the world. You will go out into the world and leave this life behind you changing thousands of people's lives in the process. But Sora I will not always be around to protect you from the world, and there are people out there that if they knew about you would try to get rid of you. So I will teach you. This is the first and most important lesson you will ever get. You must never, ever let your guard down. That is when these people will get you. So you must promise me my child. When I'm gone never let your guard down."
Sora listening to her grandfather, crimson eyes wide in the fear of her grandfather going and people trying to hurt her. She didn't quite understand all of what her grandfather was saying but she nodded anyway.
"I promise Grandfather."
*************************End of flashback*************
'I broke my promise!!!!' was the first thought that screamed through her head.
So as Tai wrapped his arms around her the first thing she did was grab his arms with both hands, jumped to her feet and tossed him over her back, in one swift motion. She unsheathed her katana in a liquid movement, the same one that lay in the grass beside her grandfather all though years ago, and placed the tip millimeters from his neck.
When Tai opened his eyes, and saw Sora standing over him anger blazing in her fiery eyes, with a sword pointed inches from his throat, glittering evilly in the sunlight, the first thing he voiced in a moan was, "Owwww….." He closed his chocolate brown eyes and dropped back totally into the dirt.
"What the hell were you trying to do, Prince!!" She spat at him, voice shaking a bit, though the sword was perfectly steady. She put the sword back into its sheath, and kicked him with her toe. Tai moaning softly was unable to resist grinning at the irony of the situation. "Answer me!!!" Sora hissed, kicking him again, harder.
"Ouch! Would you quit kicking me and I'll tell you!!" Tai glared back at her, smirk gone from his face. "I was trying to comfort you! Remind me never to do that again…."
Sora's face faltered and surprised replaced her anger. But the anger soon came back as she sneered, "Yeah right. You don't care about me! I just kidnapped you! Why would anyone care….." The last part was said quietly, with sadness hinted in her voice.
"Because I'm human. A person would never leave another in pain and not do anything about it." Tai said firmly, all smiles gone from him. But this answer just seemed to make Sora angrier. Tai figured this out when Sora's fist connected to his face, again.
"You lying son of a bitch," she hissed, now not only anger but – but now there was something else there…, hate? "Human beings won't do anything! The only thing they do about is laugh and jeer and throw thing at them!!!!"
Sora gasped as if she had said something secret and ran away leaving Tai on the ground, and very confused. "I really don't understand that girl...." he muttered as he lifted himself off the ground groaning. He picked up the hoe she had dropped and started off where she had finished.
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"Oh God...." Sora moaned, leaning against her horse's side. "What's wrong with me...." She felt a nudge at her forehead and opened her eyes, to look into a pair off deep black ones.
"Oh Hoshi....." she murmured throwing her arms around the black horse's neck. In the safeness of the animal's warmth she let out the tears that had wanted to come all day. They burned down her tanned face as she sobbed letting down the shield that she worked so hard to make.
After a few minutes her sobs were reduced to sniffles and finally stopped completely. She went to Angels side and just draped her arms over the horses back. "It was stupid of me to bring a person here... There are too many memories I'm not ready for... but what's done is done and I have to go through with this! Even if I'm not ready..." She whispered to the horse.
"God I have a headache..." Sora muttered, her head pounding as she looked out the window.
"It's sunset already!? Shit...." She moaned, and stood up, got food and water for the horse, who nickered gratefully. She walked toward the house hiding her surprise when she saw Tai hoeing the garden and walked into the kitchen.
She ignored the pounding in her head as she got a pot out, and started making soup. Once she had it simmering lightly on her small stove she put two bowls on the table, flicking back a piece of hair off her hot sweaty forehead, the pounding now a sharp ache. She poured some of the hot steaming soup into each bowl, then poured a glass of milk for each.
At this point the ache was no longer just an ache, nor could she just pass it off as a migraine anymore. Her head felt like it was splitting in half in agony, and the world was blurry. She clutched the table with her hand as she fell to her knees. She gasped for breath as a fresh wave of pain came over her.
Her grasp weakened from the edge of the wooden table and she fell to the cold wooden floor. She manage to call one last thing before the world turned completely black and pain forced her into an unwelcome sleep, "Grandfather!!!"
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Dirt covered Tai's clothes, dust smeared his face and his normally perfect hands had callused and were bleeding. He grumbled as he tore through the rocky soil, sweat mingling with dirt on his handsome face. Not paying attention to where the hoe was actually going while he tossed it into the air, he didn't notice how close he was hoeing to his foot, until the metal blade slammed right into his toe.
A look of irritated pain flashed over his face, as he threw down the hoe in anger and crossed his arms defiantly. "I simply refuse to do anymore of these stupid chores!" he announced out loud, to the open yard in front of him.
He then glared at the hoe as if it were mocking him, sighed and as if realizing how stupid he was being he reached down to pick up the dropped garden tool. He was interrupted as a call came from the house, unmistakably Sora's and called out once and only once. But dread filled him the moment he heard, because this wasn't her normally harsh tone, this voice was filled with pain.
At once he dashed toward the house, completely forgetting about the chore. He slammed the door open and gasped in shock as he saw Sora lying on the floor moaning in pain. He rushed to her side, and picked her gently up in his arms. He was shocked at how hot she felt and how light she was. Her auburn hair was damp from sweat, face scrunched up in pain.
She struggled weakly in his arms still fighting his hold, even in sleep. He nearly laughed as he realized this, but the humor was short lived as he glanced at her hot, sweaty face again.
He kicked open the bedroom door, arms full from carrying Sora, swearing at himself for not noticing her illness earlier. Balancing her in the crook of his arm like a baby he pushed back the blanket with his other arm.
She was shivering now, even though her body was positively radiating heat. He lowered her onto the bed and gently tucked her under the covers. She struggled, letting out a whimper of pain in her sleep.
Tai then noticed the sword prodding out from under the covered and hit himself for not removing it earlier. He opened the covers once more and attempted to unhook the sword from her slender waist. But as his hand touch the sheath of the sword, in her feverish sleep, Sora unconsciously grabbed the hand on the sword and squeezed it very tightly.
Tai gasped in pain, and wrenched his hand out of her hold. He stood there glaring at her sweaty form for a moment then muttered, "Well I guess I'll have to leave the sword......" Tai then sat down on the edge of the bed frowning deeply. He had never attended a sick person before; the palace healers had always taken care of that.
As Sora moaned again Tai put a hand on her sweaty forehead. It was burning! Stepping up from the bed he left the room, and got a pail of water, and a cloth. He slowly dipped the cloth into the pail of ice cold water and, wringing out the cloth first, placed it on her flaming forehead.
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It had been five days since Sora had fallen ill and she wasn't getting much better. Most of the time she was in a half sleep, body steaming hot, but drenched in a cold sweat. Some of the times she was conscious, she was delirious, moaning and crying out to invisible creatures and people.
;When Tai actually managed to get her into a deep sleep, she was plagued by nightmares. She would awake trying to scream, but throat to dry and swollen to make a noise. A few times she had woken up and been able to acknowledge Tai's presence.
In the few times, Tai would usually manage to get food and water into her, before she started hallucinating again. Tai never really left her side, unless it was to feed the horse, or once and a while himself.
Through all of this, a little part of Tai's mind was putting him through pure torture. Why was he helping her? She had kidnapped him, she a commoner and he the heir to the Royal throne! But instead of taking advantage of the situation, he was caring for her, putting her needs before his own. Not only that, but he hardly knew her at all, and what he did know he didn't like very much. But he pushed these feelings away, ignoring them like they deserved to be.
As Tai sat down beside her bed again, a bowl of soup in his hands, he winced and smiled bitterly. "Hell, not like I could overpower her anyway,' he thought, fingering a forming purplish bruise on his cheek, as the many others spotted the rest of him. 'she can defend herself easily from me even with this illness in her.' He had a kind of grudging respect formed for her now, at least for her fighting skills.
*****************************flashback******************
It had been a few hours since he had first walked into the house and seen Sora lying on the ground. He had been sitting by her side, holding her clammy hand for the first two, then a few minutes ago when she had showed some sign of waking, he had taken one of the bowls of the soup from the kitchen. It was now cold, but Tai decided that even so some nutrient in her was better than nothing.
As he gazed at her motionless body, he tried to figure out how to wake her up. He sat there debating for a while before deciding to just putting it to her mouth to see if she'd take it in her sleep.
So he filled the dented spoon with some of the cold soup and put it to Sora's slightly parted lips, but the cooled soup just dribbled down her chin. Sora's frown deepened at the feeling and unconsciously knocked the spoon away.
Tai, slightly annoyed at this, bent down and picked the spoon off the wooden floor. He wiped it on the front of his semi-dirty shirt until the spoon itself was clean again. Filling it with soup he repeated what he had tried before. This time she growled and knocked not only the spoon but his hand too.
Now that annoyed Tai. She had HIT him, when he had been trying to help her!!! Tai then roughly took Sora's head and force open her jaw. Or tried too at least.
The moment she felt his hands on her face, she woke up out of the half sleep. Noticing right away her situation -and a pounding headache- she shot her fist strait out into his gut, winding him, and her other fist slammed into his face.
Tai fell to the ground moaning, for the second time that day and looked up. Sora was standing over him, panting slightly, fury radiating off her, and Tai winced.
"Why- th-the hell di-id you do that????" She gasped out face shinny with sweat. "Do-don't you ever-ever... do-do that... do that... again!!" She was forcing out the words, in obvious pain but refusing to let her guard down in the slightest.
"Will you get back in bed if I say I'm sorry." Tai pleaded, worried about what this was costing her strength, though he had NO idea why he was worrying about her after she had just punched him.
"N-no!!!" She yelled, then clutched her head, moaning in pain. She sat on the disgruntled sheets again, and Tai carefully got up.
"What can I do to make you sleep again?" Tai asked softly, cautiously. Sora looked up again glaring, her eyes boaring into the back of his skull.
"Why-why do yo-you even care!!" she spat, glaring at the ground now, as if she didn't have enough strength to lift even her head now. "I'm sur- surprised you haven't run awa-way yet!!!" Tai glared back at her at that as if she had insulted him.
"You really think that I would leave an ill person alone without any help!!!! You think I'm THAT cruel!! You may think most people are cruel heartless beings that wouldn't help another in need if their own life depended on it but I for one don't believe that!!! Think I'm a jerk, think I'm a wimp, think I'm a piece of crap for godsake!!!! But please, just get into bed..."saying the last part a little softer.
Tai winced again after his little speech and glanced at Sora warily, expecting to be hit again. What he saw shocked him even more than being hit. Sora's crimson eyes were brimming with astonishment, looking at him as if he were an alien from another world. But what surprised him more was what she said next.
"Fine..." she said quietly her eyes downcast again, and got into the bed.
"Wha-what?" Tai stammered, amazed that she had listened to him. But Sora's eyes were closing again, and she let out a soft moan. Suddenly her ruby eyes shot open again and she grabbed Tai's hand.
"Sw-wear t-to me!! Swe-swear you won't leave m-me!" She gasped urgently, her eyes now glazed over, voice slightly mad as she shook all over.
"I swear..." Tai gasped out as the hold on his hand tightened, nearly breaking his fingers. A contented, but pained look filled Sora's eyes as he said though words and she let his hand fall. She gasped out a few last words as she fell into the half-crazed sleep again.
"I-I'm sorry. Fiv-five da-day... five days..." She murmured, before the storming sleep overtook her again.
**************************flashback ends******************
Five days had passed and nothing strange had happened. Tai just passed the words off as delirious talk. He absentmindedly brushed a piece of hair off Sora's face, not noticing the coolness to it. She had been screaming and whimpering a lot in her 'sleep'... Those were the times that scared Tai the most.
Two days ago it had been so bad he had had to hold her to the bed to stop her from killing herself. Her eyes had been wide open in terror as tears slashed down her flushed cheeks. Crimson eyes rolling in her head, not seeing anything around her in reality, living some horrifying dream, screaming about blood in agony, screaming not only in words but from her very soul... she had actually reached for her katana, trying to impale herself on her own blade.
Tai flinched at the memory, not only because she had left him a bloody lip and nearly broken rib, but almost remembering her pain himself as he had held her flailing body that day. Looking at her still form again... 'Still form!!?? She's never completely still... Not even moaning!' Tai thought to himself extremely surprised as dread for the worst filled him.
He reached up and felt her forehead, gasping in surprise as he felt its cool temperature. He put a hand hovering a few inches over her mouth and gaped as he felt normal, regular breathing. He let out a grin that lit his whole face, as he realized that her fever was gone. Then he frowned slightly as he wondered how the hell did it disappear so fast... she was burning just a few hours ago... 'Nevermind that idiot!' a little voice shouted in his mind, 'She's waking up! Get something to eat for her.'
The little voice was right as Sora frowned a bit, not in pain but as she was struggling to wake. Tai stood amazingly fast, the chair clattering to the floor as he bolted to the kitchen. Ripping through the cupboards he grabbed some stale bread and filled up a cup of water from a jug in the kitchen.
When he rushed back into the bedroom, he stuttered to a halt by the old bed. Unfortunately for him his efforts failed as a sprinkle of water flew from the glass, and sprinkled the end of Sora's nose. Tai held his breath as Sora frowned slightly and wrinkled her nose a little. Her eyelids crinkled, and slowly but surely she opened her eyes ever so slightly. Softly bringing her hand up she wiped the droplets of water off her nose.
"Is there a leak or something?" She asked sleepily, and cracked a huge yawn, covering it with her hand. She looked over at Tai, who at this point, had chocolate eyes as wide as saucers. "What?" She asked, completely bewildered. Sighing irritably, she peered back at him with her flaming crimson eyes. "Either tell me what your gaping at or not, but I'm hungry so can I have that food you're holding?"
Tai handed her the food dumbly, still staring disbelievingly at the girl ravionishly devouring the food in front of him. "How the hell did you wake up?!" He asked suddenly, as Sora chewed a piece of the bread.
Sora rolled her eyes and swallowed the chewed bread, waving at him for the glass of water, which he handed over. She gulped down nearly the whole glass and sighed contently, then chose to answer Tai's question.
"What's the big mystery?" She said dryly, peering up at him from her spot on the bed again. "I opened my eyes and woke up, so hard to understand, idiot?" Though she said the words she had up the shield again, making it impossible for Tai to sense her honesty. 'Well do ya really expect a thief to be honest?" he asked himself dryly.
He looked strait at her and glared, clearly annoyed. "Come on, as much as you believe it I am not as dumb as you think. Even if I was, even I would know that no one that sick could just 'wake up'. So what happened?" he demanded, frowning deeply at her.
"Pushy little one aren't you? Why should I tell you anything?" Sora shot back, getting a bit annoyed herself.
"Uh, maybe because I've been nursing you by myself for the past five days?!" Tai glared, now quite annoyed, and burning more by the second. A flash of guilt crossed Sora's face and she bit her lip, avoiding his eyes.
"Fine I'm sorry about that... and I really grateful what you did for me... especially after the way I treated you but... I can't tell you... please understand..." she pleaded, grabbing Tai's hand in her own and looking straight at him once again. The pain flashed across her features again, and Tai softened his expression.
"Fine then... I won't push the subject now..." Tai sighed as he looked away.
"By the way..." Sora interrupted sounding nervous, getting up from the bed and facing away from him and out the open window. "I'm truly sorry about kidnapping you... and... I'll take you back now if you want... I-I'll just find another way..." Her voice sounded very strained and pressed, as if this was hard for her.
Tai looked at her, surprised once again. Even if he did just help her wasn't she... well... a thief? Wasn't she a least going to collect a reward for him? Thinking back to the nearly empty cupboards, she sure needed the money.
"Find another way for what? Can you at least tell me that?" Tai pressed gently, expecting to be hit once again. Instead Sora sighed and turned around to look at him. Searching him with her crimson eyes she nodded slowly, sighing, "Fine... you deserve to know... just lets talk... outside..."
Tai nodded gaping at her in shock, again. Turning Sora walked quickly out the door, noting it was nearly sunset. Tai followed her, and worried, "Are you sure you should be out so soon?"
"Yeah... I'm perfectly fine, now hurry up." She grabbed his hand and pulled him off a path into the forest. Tai stumbled a few times trying to keep up with her, panting slightly, wondering faintly how she was not at all tired.
Suddenly they broke into a small clearing and Sora stopped abruptly, causing Tai to trip again, and this time fall. Sora sighed impatiently and turning around grabbed his hand and pulled him up. She pulled him along to the middle of the small field and pushed him softly making him fall down hard on his back.
He sat up and glared at her as she sat down gracefully in front of him.
"What?" She asked innocently, eyes widened in effect. Tai crossed him arms, letting out a 'humph' sound. "It feels so good to be outside!" Sora said happily, closing her eyes peacefully and sighing slightly.
Tai peered at her, looking oddly confused, then annoyed. "Okay missy! Can you please tell me why we're here and everything else?!" Sora glared at him as he popped her 'happy' bubble, one of the few times she had been happy since... it happened.
"I was getting to that!" She snapped, glaring at him furiously, making him cower under her gaze. "So as I was saying... it all started about five years ago......."
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And here I stop!!! .;; That sounded overly cheerful... Anyways please review if you want me to post the next chapter!!! ^_^;;
Disclaimer: ^_^;; forgot to say this last time... Do you really think I own digimon ayways??? -.-;;; ...
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Chapter 2
As soon as she felt the touch she remembered one of the first lessons her grandfather had taught her.
*****************************flashback*************************
A small young girl sat in an open field eyes closed and short shoulder length auburn hair flickering around in the breeze. Facing her sat an old man, legs crossed in the same fashion as his granddaughter long white hair in a braid down his back.
Two swords sat near the two, one beside the girl, small but well made. But compared to the other blade it was in ruins.
The blade by her grandfather was a katana shinning in perfection, steel glittering brightly in the sun. The steel hilt had designs running up into the length of the sword. It was as perfectly balanced as it was made. It was light weight but nearly impossible to break.
But this did not matter as the two sat there in silence, absorbing the feel of the air around them. After sitting there in peace for who know how long, time did not matter in this occasion, the old man broke the silence.
Sora," he said causing the small girl, no older than seven, to look up.
"Yes grandfather," she answered, opening her crimson eyes, her attention completely on the adult so beyond her young years.
The old man opened his eyes, identical to his young granddaughters, unless you looked beyond the surface. Because though the same in colour Sora's were filled with innocence and sparkling with happiness. Her grandfathers went deep, filled with age-old wisdom, more than anyone should know and more than anyone could remember if he explained.
He gazed at this young child, a vision of perfection in his old eyes, and felt pride. She was special. More than she would ever know or realize in the slightest. She was not destined for her family's life, as her brother and sister and parents were. She was to become something much greater.
He almost laughed as he realized that no one but an old man would realize that for years to come. But he quickly sobered as he realized what responsibilities would be put onto his small grandchild, completely unaware of her extraordinary fate. It would be his responsibility to prepare her to give her a will to survive the hard life she would go through.
"Grandfather...?" Sora questioned again, looking at her grandparent curiously as he shook his head slightly, coming back into reality.
"Sora, my child, there is something I must tell you." He informed her, placing a hand upon each of her small shoulders, and gazing into her eyes. "Sora you are special. You are destined to a fate that neither of us could possibly dream of. And unlike your mother, father, and siblings you will not live you life out on this farm, insolated from the world. You will go out into the world and leave this life behind you changing thousands of people's lives in the process. But Sora I will not always be around to protect you from the world, and there are people out there that if they knew about you would try to get rid of you. So I will teach you. This is the first and most important lesson you will ever get. You must never, ever let your guard down. That is when these people will get you. So you must promise me my child. When I'm gone never let your guard down."
Sora listening to her grandfather, crimson eyes wide in the fear of her grandfather going and people trying to hurt her. She didn't quite understand all of what her grandfather was saying but she nodded anyway.
"I promise Grandfather."
*************************End of flashback*************
'I broke my promise!!!!' was the first thought that screamed through her head.
So as Tai wrapped his arms around her the first thing she did was grab his arms with both hands, jumped to her feet and tossed him over her back, in one swift motion. She unsheathed her katana in a liquid movement, the same one that lay in the grass beside her grandfather all though years ago, and placed the tip millimeters from his neck.
When Tai opened his eyes, and saw Sora standing over him anger blazing in her fiery eyes, with a sword pointed inches from his throat, glittering evilly in the sunlight, the first thing he voiced in a moan was, "Owwww….." He closed his chocolate brown eyes and dropped back totally into the dirt.
"What the hell were you trying to do, Prince!!" She spat at him, voice shaking a bit, though the sword was perfectly steady. She put the sword back into its sheath, and kicked him with her toe. Tai moaning softly was unable to resist grinning at the irony of the situation. "Answer me!!!" Sora hissed, kicking him again, harder.
"Ouch! Would you quit kicking me and I'll tell you!!" Tai glared back at her, smirk gone from his face. "I was trying to comfort you! Remind me never to do that again…."
Sora's face faltered and surprised replaced her anger. But the anger soon came back as she sneered, "Yeah right. You don't care about me! I just kidnapped you! Why would anyone care….." The last part was said quietly, with sadness hinted in her voice.
"Because I'm human. A person would never leave another in pain and not do anything about it." Tai said firmly, all smiles gone from him. But this answer just seemed to make Sora angrier. Tai figured this out when Sora's fist connected to his face, again.
"You lying son of a bitch," she hissed, now not only anger but – but now there was something else there…, hate? "Human beings won't do anything! The only thing they do about is laugh and jeer and throw thing at them!!!!"
Sora gasped as if she had said something secret and ran away leaving Tai on the ground, and very confused. "I really don't understand that girl...." he muttered as he lifted himself off the ground groaning. He picked up the hoe she had dropped and started off where she had finished.
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"Oh God...." Sora moaned, leaning against her horse's side. "What's wrong with me...." She felt a nudge at her forehead and opened her eyes, to look into a pair off deep black ones.
"Oh Hoshi....." she murmured throwing her arms around the black horse's neck. In the safeness of the animal's warmth she let out the tears that had wanted to come all day. They burned down her tanned face as she sobbed letting down the shield that she worked so hard to make.
After a few minutes her sobs were reduced to sniffles and finally stopped completely. She went to Angels side and just draped her arms over the horses back. "It was stupid of me to bring a person here... There are too many memories I'm not ready for... but what's done is done and I have to go through with this! Even if I'm not ready..." She whispered to the horse.
"God I have a headache..." Sora muttered, her head pounding as she looked out the window.
"It's sunset already!? Shit...." She moaned, and stood up, got food and water for the horse, who nickered gratefully. She walked toward the house hiding her surprise when she saw Tai hoeing the garden and walked into the kitchen.
She ignored the pounding in her head as she got a pot out, and started making soup. Once she had it simmering lightly on her small stove she put two bowls on the table, flicking back a piece of hair off her hot sweaty forehead, the pounding now a sharp ache. She poured some of the hot steaming soup into each bowl, then poured a glass of milk for each.
At this point the ache was no longer just an ache, nor could she just pass it off as a migraine anymore. Her head felt like it was splitting in half in agony, and the world was blurry. She clutched the table with her hand as she fell to her knees. She gasped for breath as a fresh wave of pain came over her.
Her grasp weakened from the edge of the wooden table and she fell to the cold wooden floor. She manage to call one last thing before the world turned completely black and pain forced her into an unwelcome sleep, "Grandfather!!!"
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Dirt covered Tai's clothes, dust smeared his face and his normally perfect hands had callused and were bleeding. He grumbled as he tore through the rocky soil, sweat mingling with dirt on his handsome face. Not paying attention to where the hoe was actually going while he tossed it into the air, he didn't notice how close he was hoeing to his foot, until the metal blade slammed right into his toe.
A look of irritated pain flashed over his face, as he threw down the hoe in anger and crossed his arms defiantly. "I simply refuse to do anymore of these stupid chores!" he announced out loud, to the open yard in front of him.
He then glared at the hoe as if it were mocking him, sighed and as if realizing how stupid he was being he reached down to pick up the dropped garden tool. He was interrupted as a call came from the house, unmistakably Sora's and called out once and only once. But dread filled him the moment he heard, because this wasn't her normally harsh tone, this voice was filled with pain.
At once he dashed toward the house, completely forgetting about the chore. He slammed the door open and gasped in shock as he saw Sora lying on the floor moaning in pain. He rushed to her side, and picked her gently up in his arms. He was shocked at how hot she felt and how light she was. Her auburn hair was damp from sweat, face scrunched up in pain.
She struggled weakly in his arms still fighting his hold, even in sleep. He nearly laughed as he realized this, but the humor was short lived as he glanced at her hot, sweaty face again.
He kicked open the bedroom door, arms full from carrying Sora, swearing at himself for not noticing her illness earlier. Balancing her in the crook of his arm like a baby he pushed back the blanket with his other arm.
She was shivering now, even though her body was positively radiating heat. He lowered her onto the bed and gently tucked her under the covers. She struggled, letting out a whimper of pain in her sleep.
Tai then noticed the sword prodding out from under the covered and hit himself for not removing it earlier. He opened the covers once more and attempted to unhook the sword from her slender waist. But as his hand touch the sheath of the sword, in her feverish sleep, Sora unconsciously grabbed the hand on the sword and squeezed it very tightly.
Tai gasped in pain, and wrenched his hand out of her hold. He stood there glaring at her sweaty form for a moment then muttered, "Well I guess I'll have to leave the sword......" Tai then sat down on the edge of the bed frowning deeply. He had never attended a sick person before; the palace healers had always taken care of that.
As Sora moaned again Tai put a hand on her sweaty forehead. It was burning! Stepping up from the bed he left the room, and got a pail of water, and a cloth. He slowly dipped the cloth into the pail of ice cold water and, wringing out the cloth first, placed it on her flaming forehead.
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It had been five days since Sora had fallen ill and she wasn't getting much better. Most of the time she was in a half sleep, body steaming hot, but drenched in a cold sweat. Some of the times she was conscious, she was delirious, moaning and crying out to invisible creatures and people.
;When Tai actually managed to get her into a deep sleep, she was plagued by nightmares. She would awake trying to scream, but throat to dry and swollen to make a noise. A few times she had woken up and been able to acknowledge Tai's presence.
In the few times, Tai would usually manage to get food and water into her, before she started hallucinating again. Tai never really left her side, unless it was to feed the horse, or once and a while himself.
Through all of this, a little part of Tai's mind was putting him through pure torture. Why was he helping her? She had kidnapped him, she a commoner and he the heir to the Royal throne! But instead of taking advantage of the situation, he was caring for her, putting her needs before his own. Not only that, but he hardly knew her at all, and what he did know he didn't like very much. But he pushed these feelings away, ignoring them like they deserved to be.
As Tai sat down beside her bed again, a bowl of soup in his hands, he winced and smiled bitterly. "Hell, not like I could overpower her anyway,' he thought, fingering a forming purplish bruise on his cheek, as the many others spotted the rest of him. 'she can defend herself easily from me even with this illness in her.' He had a kind of grudging respect formed for her now, at least for her fighting skills.
*****************************flashback******************
It had been a few hours since he had first walked into the house and seen Sora lying on the ground. He had been sitting by her side, holding her clammy hand for the first two, then a few minutes ago when she had showed some sign of waking, he had taken one of the bowls of the soup from the kitchen. It was now cold, but Tai decided that even so some nutrient in her was better than nothing.
As he gazed at her motionless body, he tried to figure out how to wake her up. He sat there debating for a while before deciding to just putting it to her mouth to see if she'd take it in her sleep.
So he filled the dented spoon with some of the cold soup and put it to Sora's slightly parted lips, but the cooled soup just dribbled down her chin. Sora's frown deepened at the feeling and unconsciously knocked the spoon away.
Tai, slightly annoyed at this, bent down and picked the spoon off the wooden floor. He wiped it on the front of his semi-dirty shirt until the spoon itself was clean again. Filling it with soup he repeated what he had tried before. This time she growled and knocked not only the spoon but his hand too.
Now that annoyed Tai. She had HIT him, when he had been trying to help her!!! Tai then roughly took Sora's head and force open her jaw. Or tried too at least.
The moment she felt his hands on her face, she woke up out of the half sleep. Noticing right away her situation -and a pounding headache- she shot her fist strait out into his gut, winding him, and her other fist slammed into his face.
Tai fell to the ground moaning, for the second time that day and looked up. Sora was standing over him, panting slightly, fury radiating off her, and Tai winced.
"Why- th-the hell di-id you do that????" She gasped out face shinny with sweat. "Do-don't you ever-ever... do-do that... do that... again!!" She was forcing out the words, in obvious pain but refusing to let her guard down in the slightest.
"Will you get back in bed if I say I'm sorry." Tai pleaded, worried about what this was costing her strength, though he had NO idea why he was worrying about her after she had just punched him.
"N-no!!!" She yelled, then clutched her head, moaning in pain. She sat on the disgruntled sheets again, and Tai carefully got up.
"What can I do to make you sleep again?" Tai asked softly, cautiously. Sora looked up again glaring, her eyes boaring into the back of his skull.
"Why-why do yo-you even care!!" she spat, glaring at the ground now, as if she didn't have enough strength to lift even her head now. "I'm sur- surprised you haven't run awa-way yet!!!" Tai glared back at her at that as if she had insulted him.
"You really think that I would leave an ill person alone without any help!!!! You think I'm THAT cruel!! You may think most people are cruel heartless beings that wouldn't help another in need if their own life depended on it but I for one don't believe that!!! Think I'm a jerk, think I'm a wimp, think I'm a piece of crap for godsake!!!! But please, just get into bed..."saying the last part a little softer.
Tai winced again after his little speech and glanced at Sora warily, expecting to be hit again. What he saw shocked him even more than being hit. Sora's crimson eyes were brimming with astonishment, looking at him as if he were an alien from another world. But what surprised him more was what she said next.
"Fine..." she said quietly her eyes downcast again, and got into the bed.
"Wha-what?" Tai stammered, amazed that she had listened to him. But Sora's eyes were closing again, and she let out a soft moan. Suddenly her ruby eyes shot open again and she grabbed Tai's hand.
"Sw-wear t-to me!! Swe-swear you won't leave m-me!" She gasped urgently, her eyes now glazed over, voice slightly mad as she shook all over.
"I swear..." Tai gasped out as the hold on his hand tightened, nearly breaking his fingers. A contented, but pained look filled Sora's eyes as he said though words and she let his hand fall. She gasped out a few last words as she fell into the half-crazed sleep again.
"I-I'm sorry. Fiv-five da-day... five days..." She murmured, before the storming sleep overtook her again.
**************************flashback ends******************
Five days had passed and nothing strange had happened. Tai just passed the words off as delirious talk. He absentmindedly brushed a piece of hair off Sora's face, not noticing the coolness to it. She had been screaming and whimpering a lot in her 'sleep'... Those were the times that scared Tai the most.
Two days ago it had been so bad he had had to hold her to the bed to stop her from killing herself. Her eyes had been wide open in terror as tears slashed down her flushed cheeks. Crimson eyes rolling in her head, not seeing anything around her in reality, living some horrifying dream, screaming about blood in agony, screaming not only in words but from her very soul... she had actually reached for her katana, trying to impale herself on her own blade.
Tai flinched at the memory, not only because she had left him a bloody lip and nearly broken rib, but almost remembering her pain himself as he had held her flailing body that day. Looking at her still form again... 'Still form!!?? She's never completely still... Not even moaning!' Tai thought to himself extremely surprised as dread for the worst filled him.
He reached up and felt her forehead, gasping in surprise as he felt its cool temperature. He put a hand hovering a few inches over her mouth and gaped as he felt normal, regular breathing. He let out a grin that lit his whole face, as he realized that her fever was gone. Then he frowned slightly as he wondered how the hell did it disappear so fast... she was burning just a few hours ago... 'Nevermind that idiot!' a little voice shouted in his mind, 'She's waking up! Get something to eat for her.'
The little voice was right as Sora frowned a bit, not in pain but as she was struggling to wake. Tai stood amazingly fast, the chair clattering to the floor as he bolted to the kitchen. Ripping through the cupboards he grabbed some stale bread and filled up a cup of water from a jug in the kitchen.
When he rushed back into the bedroom, he stuttered to a halt by the old bed. Unfortunately for him his efforts failed as a sprinkle of water flew from the glass, and sprinkled the end of Sora's nose. Tai held his breath as Sora frowned slightly and wrinkled her nose a little. Her eyelids crinkled, and slowly but surely she opened her eyes ever so slightly. Softly bringing her hand up she wiped the droplets of water off her nose.
"Is there a leak or something?" She asked sleepily, and cracked a huge yawn, covering it with her hand. She looked over at Tai, who at this point, had chocolate eyes as wide as saucers. "What?" She asked, completely bewildered. Sighing irritably, she peered back at him with her flaming crimson eyes. "Either tell me what your gaping at or not, but I'm hungry so can I have that food you're holding?"
Tai handed her the food dumbly, still staring disbelievingly at the girl ravionishly devouring the food in front of him. "How the hell did you wake up?!" He asked suddenly, as Sora chewed a piece of the bread.
Sora rolled her eyes and swallowed the chewed bread, waving at him for the glass of water, which he handed over. She gulped down nearly the whole glass and sighed contently, then chose to answer Tai's question.
"What's the big mystery?" She said dryly, peering up at him from her spot on the bed again. "I opened my eyes and woke up, so hard to understand, idiot?" Though she said the words she had up the shield again, making it impossible for Tai to sense her honesty. 'Well do ya really expect a thief to be honest?" he asked himself dryly.
He looked strait at her and glared, clearly annoyed. "Come on, as much as you believe it I am not as dumb as you think. Even if I was, even I would know that no one that sick could just 'wake up'. So what happened?" he demanded, frowning deeply at her.
"Pushy little one aren't you? Why should I tell you anything?" Sora shot back, getting a bit annoyed herself.
"Uh, maybe because I've been nursing you by myself for the past five days?!" Tai glared, now quite annoyed, and burning more by the second. A flash of guilt crossed Sora's face and she bit her lip, avoiding his eyes.
"Fine I'm sorry about that... and I really grateful what you did for me... especially after the way I treated you but... I can't tell you... please understand..." she pleaded, grabbing Tai's hand in her own and looking straight at him once again. The pain flashed across her features again, and Tai softened his expression.
"Fine then... I won't push the subject now..." Tai sighed as he looked away.
"By the way..." Sora interrupted sounding nervous, getting up from the bed and facing away from him and out the open window. "I'm truly sorry about kidnapping you... and... I'll take you back now if you want... I-I'll just find another way..." Her voice sounded very strained and pressed, as if this was hard for her.
Tai looked at her, surprised once again. Even if he did just help her wasn't she... well... a thief? Wasn't she a least going to collect a reward for him? Thinking back to the nearly empty cupboards, she sure needed the money.
"Find another way for what? Can you at least tell me that?" Tai pressed gently, expecting to be hit once again. Instead Sora sighed and turned around to look at him. Searching him with her crimson eyes she nodded slowly, sighing, "Fine... you deserve to know... just lets talk... outside..."
Tai nodded gaping at her in shock, again. Turning Sora walked quickly out the door, noting it was nearly sunset. Tai followed her, and worried, "Are you sure you should be out so soon?"
"Yeah... I'm perfectly fine, now hurry up." She grabbed his hand and pulled him off a path into the forest. Tai stumbled a few times trying to keep up with her, panting slightly, wondering faintly how she was not at all tired.
Suddenly they broke into a small clearing and Sora stopped abruptly, causing Tai to trip again, and this time fall. Sora sighed impatiently and turning around grabbed his hand and pulled him up. She pulled him along to the middle of the small field and pushed him softly making him fall down hard on his back.
He sat up and glared at her as she sat down gracefully in front of him.
"What?" She asked innocently, eyes widened in effect. Tai crossed him arms, letting out a 'humph' sound. "It feels so good to be outside!" Sora said happily, closing her eyes peacefully and sighing slightly.
Tai peered at her, looking oddly confused, then annoyed. "Okay missy! Can you please tell me why we're here and everything else?!" Sora glared at him as he popped her 'happy' bubble, one of the few times she had been happy since... it happened.
"I was getting to that!" She snapped, glaring at him furiously, making him cower under her gaze. "So as I was saying... it all started about five years ago......."
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And here I stop!!! .;; That sounded overly cheerful... Anyways please review if you want me to post the next chapter!!! ^_^;;